Being a fulltime psychic isn’t an easy job, and it’s certainly not always lucrative! One of my heroes, J.D. Roth, is the author of one of my favorite blogs, Get Rich Slowly (www.getrichslowly.org). I’ve been following him for more than a year now, and I understand that before he could blog fulltime, he (rather unhappily) worked in his father’s box company for much of his early adult life. Now married to a wonderful lady, J.D. got serious several years ago about straightening up his financial life . He began to work to be both debt-free and to be entirely self-employed by writing his blog. He does a fantastic job and, quite rightly, has thousands of followers. He talks frankly about his struggles, setbacks and fears in his journey to where he is now, but he did manage to succeed. Bravo!

I am not the same as J.D. Roth yet in being able to solely support myself with only one line of work. This blog and my website are my ways of working towards that dream. But in the meantime, I also tutor students, substitute teach, and sell awesome Mary Kay cosmetics and skin care products! However, I have shared J.D.’s ambivalence about having the so-called safe, secure dayjob. I, too, have had many dayjobs in the past. Sometimes I felt I was pursuing my true vocation, other times I just felt I was punching a clock to pay my bills. Recently, I took the plunge to become completely self employed, and left my steady, part-time job as the Principal of a boarding school for at-risk teens. The rewards of working at that school were great: experience, challenges I met and conquered, a beautiful thing to put on a resume, and of course, the camraderie with my co-workers and the joy of seeing “my” kids get their acts together and go back to the world more happy, more educated, and more of a positive influence in the world.

Still, one of the biggest challenges for me in that job was to take on the burden of what I felt I had to be: a “pillar of the community.” Ugh! I certainly couldn’t wear my “psychic” clothes to work: no flowing skirts, or jangly jewelry that rings or chimes or tinkles. Chinese or Indian ensembles, or gypsy fortune-teller garb was out. I wore boring, safe, respectable, “authority” suits. I effectively erased my femininity, creativity, softness and any “woo-woo” tendencies that I had.

This is a roundabout way of getting to what I was contemplating today, which is that of repressing one’s own authenticity for the sake of a job and being concerned about the impression one tries to convey to others. As I have gradually emptied the briefcase I used for school, and completed my first week of my current “post-dayjob” era, I have felt those tiny green shoots of freedom and excitement coming back to life inside me. I take more time with my grooming and selection of clothes, and now I’m not afraid to show some leg or even some cleavage! Watch out, Nevada!

The notion of having a “double life” never really appealed to me, as I am lousy about keeping information about myself private! So as I’ve gotten older, it’s become more of a soul imperative that I do work that does not demand that I repress or disguise myself.
So I ask you today: what, if anything, of yourself is being shoved aside, covered up, or apologized for, for the sake of your job? Can you find a way to express more of it at work, or could you begin searching for workplaces that would welcome and accept you for who you truly are? Whichever you choose, I can tell you that a positive change in this area of your life will help you feel more at ease with yourself and happier in your work, whatever that may be. Good luck!